Alex Chilton’s Long, Strange Career

The
shorthand for Alex Chilton is that he experienced his career in reverse.

In
1967, as the 16-year-old singer for The Box Tops, Chilton had a number-one hit with
“The Letter.” He followed that group with the critically acclaimed,
star-crossed Big Star whose three albums became the Rosetta Stone for power pop
and beyond. The solo career that followed included albums wildly divergent in
tone and material—ultimately defining Chilton as comfortable in his own skin.

With A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music
of Alex Chilton from Box Tops to Big Star to Back Door Man(Viking), the singer (who died in
2010) gets a sympathetic biographer in Holly George-Warren. Equal parts fan and
historian, she traces the Chilton family’s roots to Memphis, Tenn., where young
Alex’s journey began with a part-time jazz musician father and mother who ran
an art gallery out of their home.

A
glimpse into The Box Tops whirlwind offers some perspective: “People talk about
1968 and how they were affected by it. I understand what they’re saying, but I
probably played 250 dates in 1968,” Chilton said. “Whenever I wasn’t doing that
I was in the recording studio.”

While
these years would definitely affect Chilton’s psyche, George-Warren really digs
in and offers a rare view of the Big Star years with accounts from many who
experienced the scene. Virtually ignored at the time, Chilton and songwriting
partner Chris Bell came up with a gem of a debut album. Chilton could be
notoriously tight-lipped about this era so the author wisely fills in the
blanks Rashomon-style with accounts
from band members Andy Hummel, Jody Stephens and Richard Rosebrough; Terry
Manning and John Fry of Ardent Studio (ground zero for the band’s recordings); Lesa
Aldridge (Chilton’s muse) and producer/instigator Jim Dickinson.

While
the consensus among the principals was they knew how special this music was, Chilton
in later years would never give more than a lukewarm response if he addressed
Big Star at all. (“Big Star was one thing. I was something else,” Chilton
said.). Ultimately he made peace with his past performing ongoing reunion gigs
with both The Box Tops and Big Star.

The
twilight of Big Star’s gleaming flickered out as punk rock was dawning. Balancing
his frustrations, personal demons and artistic desires Chilton reveled in the
tidal DIY chaos. George-Warren gathers first-hand accounts from members of The
Cramps (who Alex produced in Memphis) and The Panther Burns—a band whose
manifesto-as-music was so wrapped in entropy that Chilton joined the group.

She
also sources clear-eyed chronicles from acolytes who actually heard Big Star on
their local radio stations. Before forming The dB’s, Chris Stamey and Peter
Holsapple both played with their hero.

Enamored
with his visits to New Orleans, Chilton settled in the Crescent City in 1982,
eventually buying a house there and surviving Hurricane Katrina. He also kicked
alcohol and began releasing records on the French label New Rose. Touring with
a drummer and bassist, Chilton barnstormed the college-radio circuit.

Observations
from bassist Rene Coman and drummer Doug Garrison (who had played with
Chilton’s father and had no knowledge of Alex’s career) illuminate the
blueprint for Chilton’s final musical chapters. By this point Chilton had
nothing to prove to anyone—not that a natural-born contrarian would have it any
other way. His set lists just might include a few nods to his past, but anyone
expecting more than that was gonna be sorry they bought a ticket to a gig. Chilton’s
sets could include the psycho country of Porter Waggoner’s “Rubber Room,” MelTormé’s “The
Christmas Song” and “Volare” sung in Italian. At a Milwaukee lakefront gig a
teenage girl mistook Chilton as an oldies act and requested “Wooly Bully,”
which he gladly obliged.

Taking
into account everything from his teenybopper days to cult-idol, George-Warren
does Chilton justice, defining him as an artist who could not be pinned down.

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